Woodland Tree Foundation is pleased to announce that for the second consecutive year, members of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders will join us to plant trees in Woodland.

This year’s tree planting will be held July 13.

The Mandela Fellowship is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) launched in 2014 by President Barack Obama. The initiative empowers young people through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking.

Last year, Woodland hosted 25 Mandela Fellows from 19 African countries who helped us plant more than 20 trees in Crawford Park. The group then joined us for lunch on Main Street, hosted by Councilmember Tom Stallard. The fellows participate in the UC Davis Energy Institute, designed to help African leaders meet a spectrum of energy-related challenges in their home countries.

UC Davis is one of 36 universities currently hosting summer programs for about 1,000 fellows selected through a competitive process from among 40,000 applicants.